December 28, 2009

Today we encountered our first minor setback. As with all preemies there are good days and bad days. Baby Aisling is doing well, but they lowered her feedings from 7cc's to 4cc's, as she was not tolerating it as well as the doctors would like. Of course this made mom and dad sad, but we are learning that this happens and we hope to see an increase in food again soon.
On the bright side, she now weighs almost 900 grams, which is just under 2lbs! We have been doing more Kangaroo Care, which involves laying her on your chest for skin to skin contact and dad even got to take her temp and change her "micropreemie" diaper.
We wish everyone a Happy and Peaceful New Year. We will be ringing in the New Year with Aisling!

Happy Christmas

Well, today was a good day! Baby Aisling has gained a 60 grams of weight from her birth weight of 760 grams to 820 grams. She has also increased her food intake to 5cc's of milk and is handling it very well. They will be taking her off of the oxygen shortly to see if she can maintain breathing on her own. So far, our little girl is holding up better than both mom and dad!! By the way, they put a really cute hat on her today that was handmade by volunteers. It was yellow, with pink ribbon and a rose. She was styling!!!

Also, Ger was discharged this morning and will be able to spend Christmas at home! She has a few follow up appointments scheduled for next week to make sure her lungs, heart, and blood pressure remain under control. She has tons of meds to help keep things as normal as possible for a while. The docs think that she'll be back to normal and off the meds within 6 months. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that.

Thanks again for all of your well wishes, prayers, and thoughts. Without such great friends and family, we don't know where we would be. We wish you all a Happy Christmas!

Peace be with you!

Chuck and Ger

December 23, 2009

Aisling Catherine Brewster was born on December 16, 2009. She came 11 weeks early and weighed 1lb. 11oz. and was 13 inches long. Baby Aisling is currently being taken care of in the NICU at University of Illinois Medical Center. Since day one, she has shown tremendous strength and determination. Every day she has made progress and is thriving. Over the past 7 days, she has increased her lung functioning and has been using the least restrictive oxygen intake. She has also increased her food intake from 1cc of milk per day to 4cc's. With this increase in food, she should start to pack on the pounds. Our hope for her is to gain weight, start breathing on her own, and to maintain her own body temperature.

Every time we visit Aisling, she is quite active. We've had many opportunities to hold her. She's even mad a few funny faces while we sing to her. All in all, she is doing quite well.

Ger and I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. We are extremely grateful for all of your support and help, especially while Ger is still in the hospital battling high blood pressure, heart and lung problems, and a dislocated knee.

We are hopeful that Ger will be out of the hospital in time for Christmas, so that we can have some sense of normalcy in our lives right now.

Stay tuned for further information.

Much love,

Chuck and Geraldine